I hope Ford gets on board, and dumps Microsoft! The MS Sync in all their vehicles is the number one cause of complaints and warranty issues for Ford! I am hoping to buy the new Mustang, and really don't want a MS O/S...
Craig

planedoc wrote:I hope Ford gets on board, and dumps Microsoft! The MS Sync in all their vehicles is the number one cause of complaints and warranty issues for Ford! I am hoping to buy the new Mustang, and really don't want a MS O/S...
Craig

I think I read that Ford does plan to adopt CarPlay.

OTOH, at least one article I read said that Ferrari has a bad implementation. Hard to believe that Apple isn't manufacturing and selling the hardware kit. Where the hardware is placed and the quality of its touch sensitivity are both important safety factors.

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Steve Jobs

Apple has no involvement in the hardware. The hard part of producing carplay, was that it had to work on both capacitive and resistive touchscreens. Which are both used in the automotive world. It also has to sit on top of the mnfr'rs touch screen control OS. I did read that Ford was adopting carplay, but is hard to conceive, since they are pretty connected to MS. Would love to see that union come to an end.....
Craig

Update:
We now have PA's first 2018 Subaru Outback (Limited), and Subaru has implemented CarPlay across the whole line for 2018.
The audio/video is Harman Kardon, and as far as we can tell, it does not support wireless CarPlay. You need to plug your iPhone into a USB port.That's not much of a problem for us, as the car has two USB ports up front, and we're used to plugging in our iPhones. Wireless CarPlay apparently requires both BlueTooth and WiFi connection to the iPhone.

The phone functions work fine when just paired to BlueTooth.

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Steve Jobs

Additional:
The new Outback does have BlueTooth (wireless obviously), and there's no need to do anything, after you've paired your iPhone. Just start audio (music, podcast, audiobook) on your iPhone and controls show up on the console. If you have more than one iPhone you'd like to pair, that's no problem, but the first-listed iPhone is paired automatically if it's in the car. We haven't tested what happens if the second-listed iPhone is the only one in the car.

I haven't tested the steering-wheel controls yet.

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Steve Jobs

Our new Outback does have WiFi. It can connect to our home WiFi* and I can connect my iPhone to the Outback's WiFi. It also gives us big, overly obvious notifications when it loses the home WiFi down our back road, and whenever it loses a cell connection (several points on our back roads and on the Hurricane Ridge Parkway).

So the lack of Wireless CarPlay is in the Starlink software. Here's hoping we get it in a future software update.

Using CarPlay for audio isn't exactly the same as using BlueTooth for audio. In the BlueTooth implementation, it's the Starlink software giving you controls, whereas with CarPlay, the iPhone is presenting the controls. For example, in CarPlay, you have the 15 second jump back or jump forward. With BlueTooth, you just have pause and play.

*We park next to our shop building, and there's an AirPort Express in the shop. I moved it to the side of the shop where we park, and the car is now in range.

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Steve Jobs

Here's a sort of CarPlay question maybe an experienced SMUG member can answer.
What determines what plays automatically when an iPhone connects via BlueTooth?
In our Outback, something starts playing automatically every time we start the car. (I've seen complaints about this, so maybe Subaru will change it in the future.) I've learned to mute the sound without thinking as part of the startup procedure.

But it's a mystery what plays. Sometimes it's the audiobook I was just listening to (expected). Other times it's a podcast even if I was just listening to an audiobook. Sometimes it reverts to playing a radio station, seemingly selected at random. And a couple of times it starts playing something in Apple Music, when I haven't used Apple Music for a week or more.

This isn't much of an issue with CarPlay per se for us. Our car has only wired CarPlay (barring a future upgrade from Subaru) so the iPhone is in your hand when it's connected, and it's easy to select what to play.

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
Steve Jobs